Davidson leads Peugeot pole sweep for Petit Le Mans

Team Peugeot Total got its bid to claim a second straight Petit Le Mans win off to a flying start when Anthony Davidson qualified the N°07 908 HDi FAP on pole position for the start of the second Intercontinental Le Mans Cup round at Road Atlanta.

Team-mate Pedro Lamy posted the afternoon’s second best effort in the N°08 908 HDi FAP (Lamy-Montagny-Sarrazin) to put the two factory cars on the front row of the grid. However, the close gaps at the top of this afternoon’s time sheets suggest that the battle for Saturday evening’s win promises to be as close as ever, especially since Road Atlanta is one of the international endurance racing calendar’s most demanding venues.

Pole position for Anthony Davidson

Davison was one of the first drivers to take to the track, immediately posting a benchmark time of 1mn09s433 on his first flyer, before recording the session’s fastest run two laps later (1mn07s187): "My aim today is to qualify inside the top-four because it promises to be a crazy race tomorrow. The session isn’t over yet. Let’s wait before celebrating…" The best effort of what turned out to be the only run of team-mate Pedro Lamy fell slightly short of the British driver’s provisional pole (1mn07s409). However, it soon became evident that the two Peugeot drivers would not be toppled from the front row and neither went out for a second run.

Anthony Davidson (N°07 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP): "Today is the first time I have been tasked with qualifying a car since 2008 and my first pole since 2001. I’m delighted, especially since we will have the N°08 car sitting alongside us on the front row tomorrow. It’s clearly great to have qualified on pole, but we need to put the elation behind us very quickly and focus on the race. I think the key word for tomorrow will be survival…"

Like many of the front-runners, none of the Peugeot Sport drivers got in much running during the different free practice sessions on Wednesday and Thursday.

Bruno Famin (Technical Director): "The conditions were predominantly damp or wet and we didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks given that the forecast for qualifying and the race was clear, dry weather. It was the three drivers in the N°07 908 HDi FAP (Wurz-Gené-Davidson) who were mostly in need of track time to learn the circuit, although that process came to an end when Anthony went off during Thursday evening’s night-time session. Happily, the car wasn’t too badly damaged and the mechanics were able to repair it during the night. They clearly did a good job! But qualifying is only a tiny part of our mission here at Road Atlanta. We now need to prepare thoroughly for Saturday’s race which promises to be extremely demanding. We need to be there at the finish to score as many Intercontinental Le Mans Cup points as possible."

Pedro Lamy (N°08 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP): "To qualify first and second on the grid is an excellent result for Peugeot. The lap times of the two cars were very close, despite the fact that we were running different technical options. Anthony did a great job."

Marc Gené will start from pole position in the N°07 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP, while Frenchman Franck Montagny will line up beside the Spaniard in the N°08 sister car.

The qualifying session

Peugeot swept the front row for Petit Le Mans on Friday with Anthony Davidson taking pole position with a lap of 1:07.187 at Road Atlanta. The British pilot put his Peugeot 908 HDi ahead of Pedro Lamy in the sister car by 0.222 seconds.

Peugeot was on the front row at the start of last year’s race and won the rain-shortened event. The French diesels also finished 1-2 two weeks ago at the Silverstone 1,000 km, besting diesel rival Audi in the process. Davidson is going for his second victory of the year in the American Le Mans Series. He teamed to win at Sebring in March with teammates Marc Gene and Alexander Wurz. The trio is back together again this week.

“It’s my first time here since 2003 where I drove a Ferrari 550. I get to go around a bit faster tomorrow,” said Davidson, who won at Silverstone with Nic Minassian. “It’s a great track to drive here in the Peugeot. It’s the first time I’ve ever driven it like that with low fuel and fresh tires on a very nice track. The tires came in a bit quickly with it being so hot out so my time was limited. I got a bit of tow coming down the straight so that probably helped a bit.”

It also helped that the Team Peugeot Total crew worked until the early hours Friday repairing damage from Thursday night’s practice session. Davidson tried to go around a GT car through the downhill Esses but went spinning off track and into the outside tire wall. Crew members worked throughout the night to get the Peugeot ready for Friday’s morning practice and qualifying, replacing the gearbox, engine, suspension pieces and bodywork sections.

Benoit Treluyer qualified third for Audi Sport Team Joest with a lap of 1:07.610. He will drive one of two Audi R15 TDIs with Marcel Fässler and Andre Lotterer. The trio placed second at Le Mans, a race that saw Audi sweep the overall podium over their French rivals.

This is the third straight year Audi and Peugeot have gone head-to-head at Road Atlanta.

“We’re very committed to winning this,” Davidson said. “We’ve been testing a lot with the 908 and working on setup for this track. We had a bitter taste left in our mouth after Le Mans so we want to really finish up strong.”

Guy Smith claimed his second pole of the season with the fastest LMP2 lap of 1:10.417 in the Mazda-powered Lola coupe that he is driving with Chris Dyson and Andy Meyrick. The British pilot, who was the overall pole-winner at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in May, outpaced Muscle Milk Team CytoSport’s Klaus Graf by just 0.131 seconds.

Graf is driving the Muscle Milk Porsche RS Spyder with Sascha Maassen and Greg Pickett.

“It’s been a difficult week with the conditions to know exactly where the car is,” said Smith, who won at Mid-Ohio in August with Dyson. “The engineers did a great job with the chassis and the Mazda guys did a great job with the engine. The race tomorrow will be typical - a 10-hour endurance race but a battle the entire way.”

David Brabham qualified third in P2 for Patrón Highcroft Racing at 1:10.661. He will try to clinch the Series’ LMP driver and team championship with Simon Pagenaud and Marino Franchitti. All the trio needs is to finish 70 percent of the P2 class-winner’s distance.

“We’re not in the running for the championship but we’ll be looking for our second win this season and to end it on a high note,” Smith said. “I think its some added pressure for doing well at the two Mazda events. But it’s always great to do it here. There are lots of extra people here to see the race and lots of friends.”

Oak Racing’s Pescarolo-Judd, running in full ACO spec for LMP2 cars, was fourth in class at 1:15.989.

Risi Competizione’s Jaime Melo led a dominating effort for Ferrari with a lap of 1:19.889. Now a three-time fast qualifier at Road Atlanta, Melo outpaced Gianmaria Bruni by just 0.181 seconds in the second Risi car. The F430, set to race for the final time in the Series this weekend, took the top four positions in class.

Ferrari is part of a three-way battle for the GT manufacturer championship with Porsche, who leads, and BMW. One of the Ferraris needs to win in class, Porsche to finish fifth and BMW to place fourth for the Italian marque to reclaim the championship.

“This is a good start for success tomorrow,” said Melo, who is driving with Mika Salo and Giancarlo Fisichella. “We are looking for the championship – team and manufacturer - so to have the top four spots is really good for Ferrari. It’s the last race in America (for the F430 GT), and we want to win one more for it.”

Guy Cosmo continued the strong weekend for Extreme Speed Motorsports with the third-fastest GT2 qualifying time – 1:20.165 in the Ferrari that he will drive with Ed Brown and Joao Barbosa. As has been the case all year, qualifying in the class was tight and tough. The top 10 cars were within 0.923 seconds.

“We worked really hard on race setup,” said Melo, who at Road Atlanta the last two years with Salo and Pierre Kaffer in 2009. “I’m a bit surprised to be on pole but that’s what we expect from ourselves, to start on the first or second row for the race. I’m pretty happy with this car; we’re really comfortable with the setup and balance. The race is going to be really, really busy. But I’m sharing a car with Mika again and Giancarlo, so I have really good support.”

Luis Diaz won his third straight LMP Challenge pole for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports with a lap of 1:15.296 in the ORECA FLM09 that he will drive with Ricardo Gonzalez and Ryan Lewis. Last year’s LMP2 series co-champion went 0.229 seconds quicker than Gunnar Jeannette in the Green Earth Team Gunnar entry.

“We had a difficult start to the week; we had some problems with all the rain just like everyone else,” said Diaz, who is looking for his first victory at Road Atlanta. “The rest of the teams had the chance to test last weekend, and we didn’t. But in the short amount of time, the team did a great job with setup. The car is really fast and set-up great for the race.”

There is more at stake for Jeannette, who is driving with Elton Julian and Christian Zugel. He and Level 5 Motorsports’ Scott Tucker are tied for the LMPC championship lead in the driver standings, with GETG and Level 5 knotted in the team totals. The two Level 5 entries qualified fifth and sixth. Jeannette’s car though was sent to the rear of the grid following a spin that flat-spotted the tires on the GETG ORECA.

Intersport Racing’s Kyle Marcelli qualified third in class with a lap of 1:15.610. He is driving with Chapman Ducote and David Ducote.

“We saw how many red flags during the sessions during the week, so I’m expecting some surprises during the race,” Diaz said. “So we’ll need to keep our head down and keep focused. This car is really good here with all the fast sectors. The car handles really well, so from Turn 1 to Turn 5 we are very, very quick.”

Jeroen Bleekemolen captured his sixth pole position in GT Challenge for Black Swan Racing with a lap of 1:25.141. He and Tim Pappas will try to wrap up the class team and driver championships Saturday, which they can do with a points-paying finish (to clinch the driving title) or third-place (for the team championship).

“It was a great qualifying for us and pretty tight,” the former Porsche Supercup and LMP2 winner at Le Mans said. “A lot of cars went out for a second time. I didn’t know if the tires would still be good, but they were even better as I improved a bit on my second time out. This is definitely one of my favorite tracks now in North America. The last corner is fantastic, the first corner as well. The paddock and the atmosphere here with all the fans are great.”

The Dutch driver, who also will drive with brother Sebastiaan, was a scant 0.223 seconds better than Andy Lally of nearby Dacula. Lally will drive TRG’s Porsche with Duncan Ende and Henri Richard. Newcomer Magnus Racing qualified third with Andrew Davis’ lap of 1:25.482, only 0.341 seconds off the Black Swan car.

“We thought if we start out front it will be easier (to win the championship). You race hard tomorrow, but you don’t try to lose it in the first corner. For sure, you have to get through the first couple of hours, if you lay back too much you probably won’t finish.”